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June 7, 2011

Sewing with Jersey - The Secret

Pretty cotton and viscose jersey fabrics are coming out by the bolts right now, and I'm so totally in love with them. But have to admit, sewing jersey is a nightmare, they keep puckering. Then I keep reading in Ottobre and Burda the tip of using a bias facing. So I asked the sewing notions stall and yippee they had it, a thin strip of bias facing that you iron on the shoulders and armholes to stop the fabric from stretching when sewing, it worked like a dreamm:)

Here's my first project of sewing with jersey, really loved how it turned out

Can you see the white strips on the shoulders and armholes? Thats the bias facing which needs to be ironed on the stitching lines.

The completed dress and I adore that matroshka applique

The dress in action, has a really swingging skirt and is so comfortable, its now her 'go to' dress :) If you notice the neck binding is a bit wide, after intense studying of Ottobre tips, when using stretch binding, the length of binding is only 0.75% x the length on the pattern. So I did it again and turned out really well.

Tip when sewing with jersey ; prewash is a must! I didn't and after the first wash the length shrank by 2 inches!! Wash at 30C max and line dry. The bias facing gets softer with every wash. I used a straight stitch but stretch the fabric as I sew and slightly loosen the upper thread tension, so in its relaxed mode the fabric will be a bit elastic and the stitches won't break. The pattern has a really dropped shoulder and is a bit larger than usual but the skirt is beautiful.

Hope you'll share some tips with me of sewing with jersey, so love it because now I don't need to iron Shasha's dresses :)